I wouldn't hesitate to defend myself with a butter knife... but hey why use junk ?

What is your definition of "junk"? Just because a rifle is built to certain minimum specifications does not necessarily make it better. While some of the specs can lend themselves to added durability with hard use others may make absolutely no difference. It can have faulty craftsmanship and quality control like anything else, even though it isn't supposed to. Anything that is man-made and can and will fail at times, especially if placed in the hands of a sufficiently talented individual. A supposedly good top tier rifle that hasn't been maintained is no better than than a lower tier rifle that has been properly maintained and checked out. Any weapon intended to serve as a personal defense firearm needs to be gone over and shot enough to verify that it performs up to it's intended expectation regardless of make or model. That said I have seen people carry pistols for self-defense without ever having shot the pistol. I would want to run a few hundred rounds through anything I planned on using for self-defense for a general reliability check before I depended on it for anything past recreational use. I have seen and read as many reports on problems with top tier rifles as I have so called lower tier rifles, every manufacturer seems to have their teething problems at times, granted some more than others.

I am searching for cheap 308 ar manufacturers in my area. My primary aim for buying. 308 rifles are to shooting in forest as there is no certain limitation for range but 200 meter would be fine Deer and hog hunting are in my main list as they destroyed our crop field which we made us to suffer in loses.

First... few name brand companies make their own parts....The most important parts are the barrel...the BCG....and receivers...Barrel companies make them for almost all the Mfg`s...forgers make uppers and lowers for most of the companies...and BCG are made by about 4 companies for most companies....also trigger parts

So no matter what you hear most all the guns are assembled from parts from major parts houses....there are a few exceptions....Guns in the $2000 and up the high end AR`s have some good guns but good for what...If you are punching paper and shooting varmints or home defence you don`t need to spend $2000+ for a AR...$800 to 1200 will do it very well..

If you are a serious competition shooter or in law enforcment...or a few others then spending $2000+ may be in order or of coarse if you have money to burn counts also....

Well boys i have the Bushmaster & Arma Lite & Windham and they have never gave me any trouble. The bush is my play gun it has had thousands of round throw it and still shoot a inch at 100 yd with my hand loads The other two will shoot 5 rounds that a dime will cover. The Windham is my last buy it is there varmint SS it is a little on the heavy side but it is a varmint gun. The bushmaster is the shorts of them and is easy to swing on target. I think that some of the high price guns are very over priced and NO better than the med price ones!!

I am saving my money for a COLT LE6940 rifle. This is the best model for me, it has plenty of rails to add accessories if I should so choose. I do want a scope, I know that. It is made for a scope, with a full length rail on top with flip up iron sights. It lists at about $ 1,500.

I am saving my money for a COLT LE6940 rifle. This is the best model for me, it has plenty of rails to add accessories if I should so choose. I do want a scope, I know that. It is made for a scope, with a full length rail on top with flip up iron sights. It lists at about $ 1,500.

Great Carbine all right. I bought one a few years ago when they were like "Unobtainium" for that price, there is a piston version BTW. Crappy factory trigger, and the Matech rear sight it came with made it hard to grab the charging handle. Mine now has a Gei$$ele SSA-E, and a MagPul Pro MBUS rear. I mounted a Vortex Razor HD 1-6. I can still see a minor blur at 6 o'clock even with the front sight folded, no big deal.

Today, with my experiences, I would look at the Aeroprecision catalog. they have wonderful full float railed uppers at great prices. If you are military, a vet or leo, they will give a 10% discount. Use all Aero parts for consistency. Get their pistol marked lower (why ???), put your own trigger in it, and be assured you will have a better unit than a Pony at a much nicer price (even with a $250 trigger). Still love my 6940 for what is is though.

I just ordered one today, 042116. They are very hard to find, I have been looking for quite a while. I got it for $ 1,329 + $ 30 shipping. Looking forward to receiving it. I want to put a light scope on it. UPDATE: Received it 2 days ago. I love it, and it came with everything needed, including sling, cleaning kit etc. UPDATE: After shooting it, I decided against a scope for the time being. It is a great rifle, well worth the money. I talked to a vet of the Afganistan war, he says it is our current battle rifle, in semi-auto. He has seen them shoot very dirty, though sand and mud, etc. Great recommendation to me. Why cheap out on something that will save your life? I didn't.

Long story short, the OP of the thread operates a full-auto range, where customers run the range's guns in rock 'n roll mode all day long. The OP shares which ones hold up to the abuse and which ones don't. A lot of the info flies right in the face of conventional AR "wisdom" and some is really not surprising at all. Like I said, the thread is long, but its worth reading all the way through.

As well it should. I've always hated the "if its not Colt, Noveske, or Daniel Defense, its junk" attitude. I don't have any problem with those or other top-tier brands. If people want to spend a little extra coin on a really nice weapon system, more power to them. I just hated the superiority complex that some seemed to have about it. If nothing else, I think that thread should put some egos in check. It also seems to refute so many of those incredible "brand x failed at the range because its junk and they should have bought a colt" stories you read on just about every gun forum. Its really comforting to hear that you don't have to spend $1500-$2000 to get a reliable personal defense/SHTF rifle. I'm sure the butthurt is going to be pretty bad when people start to realize a $700-$800 PSA will do the same thing their $1500 Colt does, but they'll eventually get over it. Then we can finally have a civilized discussion about AR's.